LUBRICATED PIPELINING: STABILITY OF CORE-ANNULAR FLOW

There is a strong tendency to fluids to arrange themselves so that the low-velocity constituent is in the region of high shear. This gives rise to a kind of gift of nature in which the lubricated flows are stable, and it opens up very interesting possibilities for technological applications in which one fluid is used to lubricate another. We can imagine that it may be possible to introduce a beneficial effect in any flow of very viscous liquid important in applications by introducing small amounts of lubricating fluid. Nature's gift is evidently such that the lubricating fluid will migrate to the right places so as to do the desired job. There are significant reserves of heavy viscous crude oils in the United States, Canada, Venezuela and Europe. Heavy crudes may have viscosities of 1000 P at room temperature. These viscous crudes cannot be transported by the usual pipeline methods. It is customary to reduce the viscosity of the oil either through the addition of a hydrocarbon diluent or through the installation of heating equipment at short intervals along the pipeline.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Pub. in Journal of Fluid Mechanics, v201, pp 323-356, 1989.
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

  1530 North Cleveland Avenue
  Minneapolis, MN  United States  55455-0220
• Authors:
  • JOSEPH, D D
• Publication Date: 1989

Media Info

• Pagination: 34 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Hydrocarbons; Lubricating oils; Lubrication; Pipelines; Viscosity; Viscous flow
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pipelines; Terminals and Facilities; Vehicles and Equipment; I96: Vehicle Operating Costs;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00494048
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: ARO-25648.1-MA
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 30 1990 12:00AM